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FEMSA Has Spent 50 Years Building a More Complete Record of Latin American Art

From its origins in a Dr. Atl donation to its current committee-driven acquisition process, the collection's curators describe a five-decade effort to...

yesterday 1

Observer

Elisa Carollo

One Fine Show: “The Renaissance Engraver at Work” at the Cleveland Museum of Art

The show draws on a medium that emerged in the mid-1400s, whose earliest technical processes remain only partly understood even now.

yesterday 2

Observer

Dan Duray

The 2026 BMW 550e xDrive Downplays Looks But Delivers on Power

There's nothing beyond its classic badge that shouts BMW from a distance; it's elegant and stately, but a little stolid for a car with its ancestral...

yesterday 3

Observer

John Scott Lewinski

Harvard’s $2.2B SpaceX Stake Shows How Elite Universities Invest in Tech

Harvard’s $2.2 billion SpaceX stake highlights how top university endowments are increasingly investing in startups and venture capital.

yesterday 2

Observer

Jason Collins

The Icy Gays Built a Collection By Cultivating Relationships—and Ignoring Market Hype

Rob and Eric Thomas-Suwall routinely back hyper-emerging artists early and have turned their Instagram connections into a real-world community.

yesterday 2

Observer

Elisa Carollo

How Lilly Pulitzer Outlasted the Preppy Cliché

Long before the brand became synonymous with collegiate pearls and twinsets, its founder was a Palm Beach rebel whose original vision is finally...

yesterday 3

Observer

Katherine Parker-Magyar

Preppy Style, All Grown Up: The 17 Pieces That Still Work

The Oxford shirt, rugby jersey and penny loafer escaped the campus long ago.

yesterday 1

Observer

Paul Jebara

My Unsentimental Education: Cupid Has Flown the Co-Op (The End of Love in Manhattan)

Candace Bushnell's most searching column asks the question Manhattan had stopped bothering to answer: whatever happened to love?

previous day 2

Observer

Candace Bushnell

Catherine Opie’s Norwegian Landscapes Are Portraits in Disguise

An exhibition of her outsider’s gaze on Norway's unique topography, on at PoMo through January 3, took shape after a three-week winter road trip in...

previous day 3

Observer

Sarah Moroz

Meet Herbert Wertheim, the Billionaire Who Paid $40M for Ferrari’s First EV

Herbert Wertheim turned an ophthalmology business and savvy investments into a $4.7 billion fortune and just spent $40 million on Ferrari’s...

previous day 1

Observer

Abigail Bassett

The Founding Director of Mathaf Returns to Doha for Art Basel Qatar’s Second Edition

In conversation with Observer, newly named artistic director Wassan Al-Khudhairi discussed inheriting the role from Wael Shawky, how she wants to see...

previous day 3

Observer

Dan Duray

To Prepare Students for the A.I. Age, Invest in International Education

International education is often treated as an enrichment opportunity separate from career preparation. The Institute of International Education's...

previous day 3

Observer

Jason Czyz

Thomas Houseago Makes Ancient Objects Speak to Our Violent Present

In "Death’s Sacred Mirror" at Lévy Gorvy Dayan London, ancient objects, modernist icons and the artist's own wounded forms speak across time.

previous day 2

Observer

Elisa Carollo

Higher Education, Finer Dining: Inside the Culinary Scenes at California’s Top College Towns

At California’s elite universities, Michelin-starred tasting menus and historic farm-to-table spots have turned campus visits into serious culinary...

previous day 3

Observer

Allie Lebos

At Pelagos, Luca Piscazzi Turns Italian Instinct Into Greek Discovery

At Four Seasons Astir Palace Athens, Luca Piscazzi uses Greek ingredients and Italian memory to build a Michelin-starred restaurant that keeps...

previous day 2

Observer

Emily Zemler

Why University’s End Marks the Start of So Many Watch Collectors’ Journeys

Unlike most things bought to mark the start of adult life, a timepiece stays with its owner for decades, picking up meaning as the occasion itself...

wednesday 1

Observer

Caleb Anderson

The Long View: What Qatar Can Teach Us About Investing in Culture

Amir Berbić, dean of Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, argues that at a moment when many countries are reducing...

wednesday 1

Observer

Amir Berbic

Shezad Dawood’s “Skin of Dreams” Looks Forward as Well as Back

In Abu Dhabi, a city consciously imagining itself into a new cultural future, it feels like exactly the right show in exactly the right place.

wednesday 4

Observer

Elise Morton

Inflection AI’s Second Act With CEO Sean White

With Pi Journeys, Inflection AI CEO Sean White is reviving Inflection AI’s original consumer ambitions while pushing a new idea: A.I. that supports...

wednesday 3

Observer

Sissi Cao

The 9 Best Restaurants Opening in New York City in August

Before the fall dining rush hits, August serves up a mix of classic steakhouses, budget ramen and major Brooklyn comebacks.

wednesday 4

Observer

Juliet Izon

At MCA Chicago, Kenzi Shiokava Gets His Long-Awaited Solo Debut

In the late artist's first solo museum show, reverentially titled "Kenzi Shiokava," there is not much more you could ask for.

wednesday 1

Observer

Lucas Gómez-Doyle

A.I. Is Changing What “High Potential” Looks Like

Premise’s Vanessa Larco examines how A.I. is changing the way startups identify and evaluate talent, arguing that as execution becomes faster and...

wednesday 2

Observer

Vanessa Larco

Where to Learn the Sports Behind the Ivy League Look

A public tee time at Yale, a beginner sail in Newport and a polo lesson upstate prove these storied sports are not as closed-off as they look.

wednesday 3

Observer

Paul Jebara

Never Mind the Nannies, Drivers are the New Dads

Manhattan's wealthiest families rely on drivers—often ex-cops and ex-Mossad—to chaperone, track and discipline their teenagers. Inside the K12...

18.08.2026 6

Observer

Richard Kirshenbaum

How the Bayeux Tapestry Became a Tool For Diplomacy

France's loan to the U.K. offers a roadmap for how art and mutual understanding can bring nations together. Perhaps other countries could try it.

18.08.2026 4

Observer

Simon Coates

As A.I. Majors Grow, Universities Race to Keep Curricula Relevant

More colleges are launching A.I. degrees as students chase future-proof skills. Schools are trying to teach fast-moving technology without sacrificing...

18.08.2026 1

Observer

Eric Berger

11 Books That Trace the Contradictions Running Through Elite Higher Education

Spanning a century of institutional history, these titles explore how America's universities have served as both engines of upward mobility and...

18.08.2026 3

Observer

The Editors

Ho Tzu Nyen Wants the Gwangju Biennale to Honor the Past, Not Relive It

"A trauma that you suffered in the past is constantly present," the artist-director reflected. "Revisiting Gwangju is important, but at the same time,...

18.08.2026 5

Observer

Elisa Carollo

The Biggest Gifts to University Art Museums in 2026

Anne and Arthur Goldstein, Kay Culbreath Heller and J. Roderick Heller, Nancy Delman Portnoy and other philanthropic collectors recently placed major...

18.08.2026 4

Observer

Elisa Carollo

A.I. Is Redefining What a Computer Science Education Is For

Warp’s Zach Lloyd explores why the debate over whether A.I. will replace programmers misses a larger transformation already underway. Lloyd argues...

18.08.2026 4

Observer

Zach Lloyd

Grey Art Museum’s Alison Weaver On the Breadth of the University Museum Mandate

"University museums are uniquely positioned to serve as the connective tissue between disciplines, engaging artists and audiences in unexpected ways."

18.08.2026 5

Observer

Dan Duray

A Grown-Up Guide to the Ivy League College Town Weekend

From Cambridge to Morningside Heights, how to fill the hours between move-in, dinner and the football game.

18.08.2026 4

Observer

Paul Jebara

The Case for the Campus Art Museum in an Age of Cuts

Despite financial pressures and political headwinds, university art museums sustain ambitious, ethically grounded collecting and exhibition programs...

17.08.2026 1

Observer

Dani Lamorte

The Next Career Ladder Is Business Ownership

Citizens’ Mark Valentino argues that the next generation of entrepreneurs does not necessarily need to build a company from scratch to own one....

17.08.2026 3

Observer

Mark Valentino

The Tech Billionaires Funding A.I.’s Next Chapter on Campus

As the cost of serious A.I. research climbs, universities are increasingly turning to billionaire donors and tech leaders to keep pace. Michael Dell,...

17.08.2026 7

Observer

Beth Duckett

In Gherdëina, Curating a Biennale Around the Politics of the Garden

"The garden is less a physical site than a conceptual space through which we could think about belonging, stewardship, memory and our shared...

17.08.2026 2

Observer

Jelena Sofronijevic

Grażyna Kulczyk Has Spent 50 Years Collecting Artists Who Were Difficult to Place

With Observer, the Muzeum Susch founder reflected on the ideal conditions for viewing art, the feminist figures she most appreciates and how artistic...

17.08.2026 5

Observer

Sarah Moroz

Higher Education Doesn’t Need a Better Story. It Needs a More Believable One.

Global Strategy Group’s Alexandra Sollberger interrogates declining public confidence in higher education. Sollberger argues that colleges must...

17.08.2026 6

Observer

Alexandra Sollberger

The CEOs and Billionaire Investors Governing America’s Top Universities

Some of Wall Street and Silicon Valley’s biggest names serve unpaid trustee roles at the country’s most prestigious universities. From Microsoft...

17.08.2026 6

Observer

Rachel Curry

Anne and Arthur Goldstein Reflect On the Responsibility of the Collector

The couple recently donated 70 artworks to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Jersey, bringing the total number of works they have...

17.08.2026 10

Observer

Elisa Carollo

The Most Anticipated L.A. Restaurant Openings Arriving in August

Upscale chop houses, refurbished French bistros and hearty Mediterranean cuisine give summer a delicious send-off.

17.08.2026 5

Observer

Allie Lebos

A Daring Antonello da Messina Heist Raises New Questions About Museum Security

The lightning-fast theft at MuMe in Messina targeted rare works by the artist, raising new questions about museum security as art values become...

17.08.2026 6

Observer

Elisa Carollo

The College Value Proposition Is Changing in the Age of A.I.

American University’s Casey Evans asks what parents are really paying for when A.I. can deliver much of the knowledge that once defined a college...

17.08.2026 8

Observer

Casey Evans

Why Collectors Gift Significant Artworks to University Art Museums

A growing number of collectors are gifting significant works of art to college and university museums, and for good reason.

17.08.2026 8

Observer

Daniel Grant

The Shoe That Conquered Dry Land: A Brief History of the Boat Shoe

How a sole inspired by a dog's paw went from racing decks to frat houses to the runway—and why it's seaworthy again.

17.08.2026 5

Observer

Paul Jebara

Author Lori Gold’s Favorite Novels to Read When Contemplating the Road Not Taken

Through very different lenses, these books examine the allure of what might have been.

16.08.2026 3

Observer

Lori Gold

Safeguarding Cultural Heritage Through the Largest Art and Collectibles Transfer in History

Amidst the Great Wealth Transfer, assets of every kind, including art and collectibles, are changing hands. Private Client Select Insurance Services...

15.08.2026 5

Observer

Maeve Zimmerman

Leslie Lewis Sigler On Turning Heirlooms into Portraits of a Life

She treats each object in her paintings not as a mere item but as a human-like individual with its own story and thoughts.

14.08.2026 8

Observer

Xinyi Ye

In the Agentic A.I. Era, Data Control Becomes a Product Advantage

Liquid AI’s Jeffrey Li unpacks why data control will become a defining competitive advantage as A.I. agents become more proactive and personalized....

14.08.2026 7

Observer

Jeffrey Li

The Reclusive Billionaire Behind Lidl Is Germany’s Richest Person

Germany’s richest person has quietly transformed Lidl’s parent company into a sprawling business empire stretching from discount groceries to...

14.08.2026 7

Observer

Kate Wieczorek